petMD Blogs

The Daily Vet is a blog featuring veterinarians from all walks of life. Every week they will tackle entertaining, interesting, and sometimes difficult topics in the world of animal medicine – all in the hopes that their unique insights and personal experiences will help you to understand your pets.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and its partners are in the middle of an initiative that goes by the name "One Health." Have you heard of it? The basic premise is that human, animal, and environmental health and well-being are inescapably connected.

The AVMA cites the following factors to highlight the importance of One Health.

The world's total population exceeded 7 billion people in 2011, and it continues to climb.

As our population expands geographically, the contact between human and wild animal habitats increases, introducing the risk of exposure to new viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing pathogens.

Advancing technologies and science-based evidence is increasing the awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the interdependency of the health of humans, animals, and the environment.

The human-animal bond continues to grow throughout societies.

It is estimated that at least 75 percent of emerging and re-emerging diseases are either zoonotic (spread between humans and animals) or vector-borne (carried from infected animals to others through insects).

Vigilant protection of our food and feed supplies from food-borne diseases, contamination, and acts of terrorism is critical for human and animal health.

Contamination by personal care products and pharmaceuticals has been detected in our waters.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to update you on two recent Fully Vetted posts that fit perfectly into the One Health initiative.

We talked about emerging issues with the zoonotic disease rabies here along the Front Range of Colorado. The problem has been worsening throughout the summer. Last week, a rabid raccoon was killed by dogs just a few miles from my house. Thankfully, those dogs were up to date on their rabies vaccines. They have been receiving boosters and are under home observation for 45 days. If they hadn’t been adequately vaccinated, they most likely would have been euthanized.

Rabies has never been diagnosed in raccoons in my county before. Since early May, officials have confirmed rabies in 21 skunks, six bats, and one bison, in addition to the historic raccoon. The number of animals that have died from rabies infection but have not been tested for it is unknowable. As a result of this current rabies outbreak, signs are posted at most of our local parks alerting residents to the importance of keeping their dogs on leashes, pets vaccinated, and children educated about not approaching wildlife. We’re all hoping that with increased vigilance we’ll be able to avoid any human cases of rabies.

And on the subject of contaminated food supplies, the Center for Disease Control now says that it has received reports of 49 individuals from 20 states and Canada who have been infected with Salmonella through contact with recalled pet foods made at the Diamond Pet Foods facility in Gaston, South Carolina. This is a perfect example of how deficiencies in safety protocols that, on the surface at least, would appear to be aimed at protecting animals, are adversely affecting human (and pet) health.

It’s sometimes easy to get tunnel-vision, but people with expertise in the areas of human, animal, and environmental health must work together for the benefit of all. The goals of One Health include:

more interdisciplinary programs in education, training, research, and established policy

more information sharing related to disease detection and diagnosis, as well as education and research

more prevention of diseases; both infectious and chronic diseases

new therapies and approaches to treatment for unmet needs

What’s not to like? Check out the One Health website for more information.

Perhaps this initiative is in part behind the AVMA's proposed policy against the raw feeding of cats and dogs. I would love to think there is some driving purpose other than just the "financial influence" of the manufacturers of processed pet foods.

Looking at the issue of antibiotic resistance/farming from One Health site.
Comments on White Paper from farm organization on antibiotic resistance:
http://www.animalagriculture.org/Solutions/Symposia/2012_antibiotics/index.html
Click on White Paper link.
“Estimated farm‐to‐fork risk from on farm antibiotic use is extremely low. In fact, the alternative risk of
sub‐optimal animal health may be higher than the risk of on‐farm antibiotic use.”

If they’re talking about antibiotic resistant bacteria in the meat itself, I agree, but the larger problem of runoff is not properly addressed other than in their diagram.

From the evil internet (source of SO much confusion): Association of Antibiotic Resistance in Agricultural Escherichia coli Isolates with Attachment to Quartz: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3187085/
From above paper.
“The United States National Swine Survey found that 57% of feeds contain antibiotic levels three or four times above recommended levels (13), and others have reported that up to 90% of some administered antibiotics pass through the animal's digestive systems and are excreted (37) A comparison of surface and ground water samples collected up- or down-gradient of swine farms showed that E. coli from the down-gradient samples had increased resistance to certain antibiotics (41). Therefore, it is not surprising that swine manure is a reservoir for transferable antibiotic resistance genes (4). E. coli isolates from wild small mammals collected on swine farms have increased antimicrobial resistance relative to small mammals from other environments, providing another potential mechanism for dispersal of these bacteria (1). “

The issue of antibiotic resistant bacteria moving to wildlife, then circling back to us is very real:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3008254/: “Wild birds are colonized with various strains of E. coli, including strains such as E. coli O157 that are pathogenic for humans (83). Fecal strains of E. coli resistant to antibiotics have been found at various prevalences in wild bird populations. In particular, bird populations sympatric to areas inhabited by people and areas with a high density of livestock were colonized with antibiotic-resistant E. coli strains possibly selected by the antibiotic practice in humans and domestic animals. “

Apparently it’s too late to contain it as the critters in the Arctic already carry drug resistant bacteria: wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/14/1/pdfs/07-0704.pdf

But it can be turned around by less use of antibiotics in animals. Here after a 20 month period of no applied antibiotics, resistance in pigs went down:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3218076

And the issue of MRSA not being connected to the meat industry, or even a concern (from White Paper), is, well, my mouth is hanging open. This is the worst kind of intellectual dishonesty there is: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mrsa-cows-humans
“A new form of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been found in dairy cows and humans in the U.K. and Denmark, providing more evidence that animals could be passing this superbug on to people—not just the other way around.”
Then there’s this whole issue of poop lagoons: http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/nspills.asp
No, of course it’s not just farm runoff. Hospital waste and sewage plants also contribute. But that’s not under the purview of those who raise animals. They have enough to do fixing their own problems, which they seem to be denying. Overall this paper was insulting, condescending and a sop to the meat industry. The main focus was saying the internet is evil and a source of disinformation, our industry is regulated and overseen by vets/feds and there’s no antibiotic residue in meat, so it’s not a problem. With this kind of thinking we’ll get nowhere. They really ought to be ashamed of themselves.

And frankly I’m sick and tired of responses from any industry addressing what they call “activists” and claiming that the internet breeds misinformation. What about the rest of us who actually have brains and know how to use PubMed? Forget the extremists and address the population as if they had brains.
These people actually have on their thinking caps and I’m eager to read their forum and papers.
http://tinyurl.com/8r9hwue
Which reminds me, will JAVMA publish papers free on the dreaded internet with content that applies to human health?
And I also sincerely hope that conjoining human and pet health does not result in continual Dr. Oz-like warnings that pets are a major source of ill health in humans and could KILL YOU! (emphasis by Dr. Ozites)

Oh and what's more , I'd like to see AVMA request all state vet associations require at least one part of the required CEU to be on antibiotic resistance and the proper use of antibiotics in vet practice. This program should be developed by AVMA. There's still too many vets out there who prescribe antibiotics........just because.

Everyone needs to own their part.

And this is the most hopeful thing I've seen in a while:
http://alternativestoantibiotics.org/index.html